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Walthamstow Central public exhibition of plans

Plans for the redevelopment of Walthamstow Station were unveiled to the public at the weekend (14th/15th May).
Considering the scale of the development, there appears to have been barely any publicity for the event held in Walthamstow Library. Its part of a 500 million pound deal for Solum Regeneration (a partnership between Kier & Network Rail) to redevelop a number of stations.

(UPDATE: Solum says it sent out 10,000 letters to residents and advertised the event in the Waltham Forest Guardian. The fact that the new MP for Walthamstow Stella Creasy was completely unaware of the consultation might suggest promotion was minimal!)

Solum Regeneration Partnership, a joint venture between Network Rail and Kier Property, is seeking the views of the local community on proposals to regenerate the area next to Walthamstow Central station fronting onto Hoe Street. The area currently comprises the Hoe Street entrance to Walthamstow Central station, station facilities and car parking.

I was interested in an article in the times business section this week on the new gvts planning strategy…. looks like there is some hope for local input ???

THE Lib-Con administration could not make room for Grant Shapps, the housing minister, in the cabinet. But do not be fooled. Housing and planning will undergo a big shake-up under this coalition. Pete Redfern, the group chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, the housebuilder, has called the Tory planning policy “scary”.

The Tories have pledged an age of “localism” through “collaborative democracy”. The Lib Dems have promised “communities free from Westminster”.

In practice this means the government will do away with national building targets for new homes and hand more power to councils and residents, raising fears that housing developments will be stifled by “nimby” councillors.

Of particular concern to developers is the potential for a third party right of appeal for local residents, which could block regeneration schemes and new homes.

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Focus: Uneasy riders
The Tories say financial incentives will be offered to councils to encourage building. But the CBI, the employers’ organisation, fears the natural tendency of constituents to oppose development will outweigh any small fiscal benefits on offer.

Shapps sought to alleviate developers’ concerns this weekend, insisting: “We are trying to create a system that gets things built.” He added: “If we find the financial incentives on offer don’t work, we will increase them.”

The new housing minister said the coalition with the Lib Dems was working well on planning. “There are no particular areas of conflict. I pushed for the coalition because we are better in power so we can reverse all the things which have stopped housebuilding in this country.”

The Lib Dems have floated the idea of Vat on new housing. This will be a matter for the Treasury, but coalition sources suggest that move is “highly unlikely”. Big losers under Tory planning policy are supermarkets such as Tesco. Proposals to reintroduce the “needs test”, which forces retailers to prove the necessity for a new shop, could put the brakes on their expansion. One Tory policy that will, however, be welcomed by all is the decision to scrap home information packs. (By Jenny Davey)

The line “Of particular concern to developers is the potential for a third party right of appeal for local residents” sounds very promising.

On the face of it so does the idea “that housing developments will be stifled by “nimby” councillors”, unfortunately in Walthamstow we seem to have “imby” councillors! The Arcade, Dogs, St James St towers, and EMD were all warmly welcomed by our council. It was actually people like CABE, and central government that were a brake on some of them!

Well done for posting this: it’s actually worse than the St Modwen* proposals for the Arcade.
The tallest block rises sheer from the pavement on Hoe St with no attempt to minimise its impact: the broad ‘Pedestrian-dominated’ pathway depicted leading from Hoe St to the Station entrance turned out on interrogation to be the route the cars use to get to the car park! I was assured with a straight face that cars will only want to access this route at the start and end of the working day. Part of the car parking area will be covered by a raised deck, ie a crime hub.
It seems that you will still have to go down the existing pokey steps into the station to cross the track unless you go round by Hoe St. A new station could have had a proper ‘flyover’ lined with shops and offices, reducing the average height for the same density. There is no attempt to create new access to the far end of the landlocked carpark.

This is a huge lost opportunity to provide workplaces next to a station with easy links to the City, possibly tempting employers to locate back-office jobs here at a lower rent, thereby minimising the need for commuting.
Nothing about the scheme has been designed from the viewpoint of what benefits Waltham Forest.
But then our own Councillors tamely accepted the target of finding housing for another 20,000 people in the next five years!

*Major sponsors of the Prince of Wales’ Foundation, if you’re wondering why the Arcade site was excluded from the Foundation’s remit for the High St area – and that’s all gone very quiet, hasn’t it?